
According to the Registrars, Data on property purchases closed the second quarter of 2023 with a 5.6% year-on-year fall. The fact is that 2022 was a record year, reaching transaction figures not seen since the real estate boom. Despite the declines, the current figures are still outstanding, and transactions could exceed half a million in 2023.
In these relevant data on housing transactions, foreigners continue to show interest in buying a home in Spain. In the second quarter of 2023 alone, foreign buyers accounted for 14.94% of the total transactions, i.e. more than 22,700.
This is the second highest weight in the total number of sales in the historical series published quarterly by the Association of Land Registrars since 2013, only surpassed by 15.92% in the third quarter of 2022. Furthermore, it is the fourth-highest absolute figure for transactions in a single quarter by foreigners, all of which took place between 2022 and 2023.
Since the first quarter of 2022, foreign home transactions exceeded 20,000, the highest numbers seen recorded by registrars.
'Foreign demand for housing has maintained its intense strength in the residential market in Spain, in line with recent years' results, becoming a particularly relevant factor in maintaining outstanding amounts in home sales,' highlights the report of the Registrars' Real Estate Registry Statistics.
The British are still leading, but are losing relative weight: this is how purchases break down between nationalities
The current economic situation, with inflation still high in many countries and high-interest rates, is leaving a new panorama in the distribution of house purchases among the different nationalities. The British continue to be the main buyers of houses in Spain, with almost 2,000 transactions between April and June, but their relative weight has decreased for the first time from 9% of the total to exactly 8.8%.
Historically, British citizens have been the most prominent foreign buyers, and by far, for years above 10%, even with peaks close to 25% in 2015. But since the end of 2020, when the residential market began reactivating after the worst of the pandemic had passed, they have barely exceeded this 10% relative weight in four of the last ten quarters.
However, even though the relative weight of the British has declined, home sales and purchases by foreigners, in general, have not only not fallen – they have also reached outstanding figures. Apart from the British (8.80%), the highest weights during the second quarter of 2023 were recorded among Germans (7.25%), French (6.56%), Moroccans (5.37%), Italians (5.22%), Romanians (5.15%), Belgians (5.09%) and Dutch (4.61%), which translates into transactions in absolute terms of over a thousand homes purchased:
British (1,966 units), Germans (1,619), French (1,465), Moroccans (1,200), Italians (1,166), Romanians (1,151), Belgians (1,138) and Dutch (1,030).
Q2 2023 | Main foreign home buyers in Spain
Nationality | Percentage | Number of sales |
Total Foreigners | 14.94% | 22,706 |
United Kingdom | 8.80% | 1,998 |
Germany | 7,25% | 1,646 |
France | 6,56% | 1,490 |
Marocco | 5,37% | 1,219 |
Italy | 5,22% | 1,185 |
Romania | 5,15% | 1,169 |
Belgium | 5,09% | 1,156 |
Netherlands | 4,61% | 1,047 |
Poland | 3,92% | 890 |
Russia | 3,43% | 779 |
China | 3,09% | 702 |
Switzerland | 2,94% | 668 |
Ukraine | 2,72% | 618 |
Ireland | 1,66% | 377 |
USA | 1,35% | 307 |
Bulgaria | 1,30% | 295 |
Lithuania | 1,08% | 245 |
Argentina | 1,06% | 241 |
Even though the rest of the nationalities have bought fewer than 1,000 houses in this second quarter in Spain, their weight increased compared to last quarter, i.e. as Poles (3.92%), Russians (3.43%), Chinese (3.09%), Swedes (2.9%), Ukrainians (2.72%) or Irish (1.66%).
The breakdown of results by nationality shows how those nationalities usually at the top of the ranking have lost relative weight in percentage terms. This fact leads to a wider distribution of nationalities in property purchases, with a progressive approximation of relative weights concerning those traditionally at the top of the ranking, confirm the registrars.
Foreigners settle in the Mediterranean and islands
The provinces of the Mediterranean arc and both archipelagos continue to be the most popular destinations for foreign buyers. In Alicante, foreigners clearly exceed four out of every ten transactions (44.67%), and in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (38.01%), Malaga (32.02%) and the Balearic Islands (30.38%), three out of every ten.
In Girona (29.20%), Murcia (23.56%), Las Palmas (23.45%) and Almeria (20.01%), they exceed 20% of total operations. Tarragona (15.79%), Castellon (14.89%), Valencia (14.72%) and Barcelona (12.65%) are above the national average.